Education Minister Adriana LaGrange wrote a letter to the Parents & Guardians of Rocky View Public School Division talking about the recent announcement about funding schools in Alberta.

"I wanted to share directly with you our plan to set your children up for lifelong success by investing in new spaces for the Rocky View School Division," explained LaGrange.

The provincial government announced 58 priority school projects across the province, four being in the Rocky View School Division:

  • Design funding for a new K-8 school in southwest Airdrie.
  • Planning funding for a new grades 9-12 School in Airdrie.
  • Planning funding for a new K-9 school in Chestermere.
  • Planning funding for a new K-8 school in Cochrane.

"In previous capital budgets, Rocky View received a new 7-12 school in Langdon (announced in 2019) and an addition and modernization of Bow Valley High School in Cochrane (announced 2022)." LaGrange carried on, "the six capital projects for Rocky View School Division, that our government has invested in since 2019, will create approximately 6, 625 new and modernized spaces when complete."

2023 marks a change to the provincial government's capital process as they have identified key activities that school boards need to complete before full construction funding will be provided.

"The reality is, in the past, governments have committed full funding for projects that simply were not ready for construction. As a result, the time between announcement and build would run between 3-5 years. This could have been prevented. If projects are truly ready for construction, as they will be if they complete these key activities, builds should only take approximately 18-24 months."

LaGrange made it clear in her letter that school authorities are not required to complete every stage (pre-planning, planning and design) before receiving construction funding. The ability to move to construction depends on the overall readiness of the full project.

"When I met with the Rocky View School Board on March 9, I confirmed our commitment to move to construction on these much-needed projects when the key activities are complete, and projects are construction ready. Additionally, I confirmed that my department will continue to work closely with your school division to confirm and monitor the site and project readiness."

Our government understands the pressures faced by Rocky View School division and your growing communities and looks forward to the completion of each project as soon as possible, explained LaGrange.

 

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